Last Friday Reuters reported that Pope Francis has formed a commission to tackle Vatican reform.

Made up of seven international lay experts and one cleric, the commission will report directly to the pope and advise him on economic affairs, improving transparency and enforcing accounting principles.

Its members will have the right to examine any paper and digital document in the Vatican…

… The new commission’s lay members are experts in economics, finance, management and law and come from Spain, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Malta and France, the Vatican said in a statement. The cleric will act as the commission’s secretary…

… Francis ordered all Vatican departments to collaborate with the commission and bypass usual rules that oblige officials to respect the secrecy of their office.

As Daniel Horan points out on his blog Dating God, this announcement is getting little media coverage, despite the unprecedented nature of the commission. He provides a link to Vatican Radio’s coverage, which includes a list of the members:

So not only has the Pope convened a commission composed almost entirely of lay people, it includes one female member (though it should be noted that it is overwhelming European). It remains to be seen what the commission will be able to accomplish, but this announcement is yet another move suggesting that Francis marks a real departure from previous Vatican administrations. The hopes for a greater role for the laity, expressed at last week’s symposium on the Role of Lay Catholic Theologians, may actually be fulfilled!

We are happy to offer the following memories and reflections from Father Facundo Mela, FDP. Father Facundo has worked with the poor and disabled in Argentina and the Philippines.

Father Facundo with Cardinal Bergoglio

On 13th March, I received a text message informing me that white smoke was coming from the Sistine Chapel. I immediately ran in front of our television to learn who would be the new Pope. When, Cardinal Jean Lous Tauran solemnly announced the new Pope’s name, I could not understand him; my Latin is not so good. Then, helped by the television headlines I knew that Cardinal Bergoglio was Pope Francis. At that very moment, I was overwhelmed with emotion and happiness, thousands of remembrances came to my mind: my priestly ordination, his lifestyle and his shepherd’s heart.

More than a year before my priestly ordination, I met him by accident, or better by Divine Providence. I took advantage of the situation and requested he ordain me as a priest. He looked at me and replied: “Yes I will, son, but call me as soon as possible to schedule it, ok?”

Some months later, I called the archbishop’s office for my ordination and instead of talking to his secretary, the operator connected me with him and we schedule my ordination. Before the mass, we had a very meaningful meeting at the parish house. He met my father and my superiors, talking to us like friends, like a simple priest.

Until now, his words resound in my heart: “As the author of the letter to the Hebrews describes Christ:compassionate and faithful, you have to be so, be a compassionate and faithful priest”. He looked at me and repeats these two words: compassionate and faithful which have helped and come with me during my ministry, especially in doubtful and dark moments.

Many people were amazed, when the newly Pope Francis asked people to pray upon him, he bowed down to the people of God for their prayer, a new and unprecedented gesture; a bishop asking the prayer of his people. But it was not the first time he did it, he always does it. At the end of my ordination, he requested my blessing. Can you imagine a newly ordained priest blessing the Cardinal? At that moment, I got very nervous and had trouble remembering the blessing form.

After his election the world’s eyes have looked at him and his style: simple, approachable, smiling, without pomp, close to the poor. Last week, a lot of friends around the world shared with me their surprise and amazement: he is amazing, his homilies are simple and deep, he speaks like a shepherd, etc, etc. His words, style and simplicity are making many people approach to the Church and feel that She is their home again.

His shepherd’s heart pushes him to go to the people, to spend Christmas and Easter in prisons, hospitals and squatter areas. As he said to the Argentinean bishop’s conference some years ago: “We have to be shepherds who smell sheep, we have to be with our flock, we have to have its smell, because we are near, close to them…” This was his homily and his lifestyle.

These days, newspapers and TV broadcasts over the world have been speaking about him and his simple and poor style, which made them remain speechless, but here is my question, why are we amazed that a bishop wants to ride a bus or goes to squatters? What happened to us? Have we become used to excessive ways? Have we become used golden crosses instead of simple ones? Have we been focused on liturgical garment and not on the gospel?

Sometimes, we, Christians put our attention on anti-evangelical things: forgetting the poor, wasting food, fighting for stupid things, thinking about irrelevant issues, living as the godless, scandalizing the world, etc. But, God forgives us and gives a gift: a new shepherd. So, I firmly believe that Pope Francis’ example is a God’s invitation to return to simplicity of life, to go out to the people, to be close to the poor and the outcast, to avoid luxury and waste, to put Christ at the centre of our lives again.

Father Facundo blesses Cardinal Bergoglio

So, let’s thank God for our Pope, let’s pray for him and accept his invitation “to walk, to build, to witness, always with the cross of Christ”.

The New Yorker has devoted a good bit of attention to the Pope’s resignation. Alexander Stille compares the papacies of Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II, while Amy Davidson discusses the way they each handled age and fragility. John Cassidy weighs in with harsh criticisms of Pope Benedict, but in the name of an underlying affirmation for the work of the Catholic Church in local communities. If you prefer audio, all three writers can be heard discussing their perspectives on the New Yorker Out Loud’s website.

A former US correspondent for The Tablet, Rocco Palmo, offers extensive coverage of the process of selecting the next pope on his blog Whispers in the Loggia. He will soon be heading to the Vatican to report from the scene as events undold.

The National Catholic Reporter is running a series called ‘Papabile of the Day’ presenting the basic biography and a brief analysis of the most locally candidates. Here’s one on Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.

The following is a reflection on the significance of the Pope’s resignation written by Augusto Zampini, a Catholic priest and a PhD student at the University of Roehampton.

Pope Benedict XVI has resigned as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church! This is an unprecedented event in the modern Church and worth commenting upon. What follows is not a deep theological analysis, but rather a casual sharing of my first impressions on the breaking news about the resignation which, I argue, is timely and coherent.

The decision is coherent with Benedict’s experience. Indeed, when John Paul II’s health was gradually deteriorating, Cardinal Ratzinger had a privileged position, right in the centre of Rome. He was the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), a powerful institution inside the Church, once known as the Inquisition. From that position, Ratzinger was able to witness how the vacuum of power generated by John Paul II’s Parkinson’s disease was promptly filled by other people. In this particular case, these were not people designated by the universal Church as its leaders, meaning that they were not elected by a Conclave (the body in charge of electing the Pope), nor necessarily guided by the Holy Spirit through episcopal mission (the Bishops in charge of Dioceses all around the world).

As a hierarchical structure, the Church has on its vertex of power the figures of Saint Peter and the Twelve Apostles, whose successors are the Pope and the Bishops. In other words, the Church, as was clarified by the most authoritative constitution concerning the organisation of the Church so far, Lumen Gentium (a constitution issued by an Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, in the 1960s), is governed by a college of Bishops whose head or principal is the Pope. Following the teachings of the Council, the new Code of Canon Law confirmed, in the 1980s, this collegial power. Cannon 330 states that ‘just as by the Lord’s decision Saint Peter and the other Apostles constitute one college, so in a like manner the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the bishops, the successors of the Apostles, are united among themselves’. When the head of the collegial government is temporarily unwell, the organised structure usually takes over, as in any other large institution. The structure is, in this case, the Vatican Dicasteries (offices) or Roman Curia, whose officers work at the Pope’s headquarters in Rome. However, when the head of the collegial body who governs an organisation is not temporarily but permanently ill, then the leader needs to be replaced, as also happens with other global institutions. While this process is being completed, the collegial body that rules the institution normally appoints somebody in charge. For example, the board of directors of an international company will take over when the CEO has resigned, and if they need more time to find a replacement, the same board will have the imprimatur on the decisions taken by those temporarily in charge. If for some reason this does not happen, and the collegial body remains passive, a fierce struggle for power is likely to be triggered. Consequently, the vacuum of power is filled by those who are more successful at this intense fight for power and control, which is at odds with the Gospel understanding of power as humble service.